Eat Weird Foreign Products With Caution

I decided to make me a Sicilian pizza. I threw together an experimental sauce made from tomato paste, and I have the dough rising in a big rectangular pan.

I also decided to try a new brand of chocolate. Garoto. It appears to be one of those weird food brands that are only here because Hispanics like them. I bought a huge bar for a pretty low price, which isn't a good sign. Often, food products aimed at Hispanics are flashy-looking and cheap, but not all that good.

Turns out this is an example. On the list of ingredients, "chocolate liquor" is pretty far back on the list. I'd say the most prominent flavor is sugar. This stuff is somewhat better than Hershey's, but the chocolate flavor is weak. Bummer.

I have high hopes for the pizza. It sounds crazy to use paste as a sauce base, but lots of people in the food business do it.

I bought some Italian sausage to throw on it. Sicilian with sausage is one of my favorite things on earth.

I'll tell you how it comes out.

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I'm surprised at how well the Sicilian came out. The crust was fine, the cheese was fine, and the sauce tasted an awful lot like commercial sauce, which was my goal.

I can't believe tomato paste is good for anything, but I've tried puree and whole tomatoes and crushed tomatoes, and I feel like I'm starting to know what's what, and this stuff was okay.

It's hard to slice sausage thin enough for pizza. I guess the answer is to chill it until it nearly freezes so it will stand up to a knife.

Anyway, I'm quite pleased. Now, to throw it out.